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In a bid to translate the government's focus on smart cities into action, Ashoka University's Centre for Entrepreneurship in association with the Dalmia Bharat Group and Microsoft Accelerator announced application calls for the second cohort of its AIM Smart City Accelerator programme.

The joint initiative is aimed at nurturing innovative and committed early-stage startups with unique solutions focused on building a smarter and sustainable India.

"At Ashoka, it is our constant endeavour to foster critical thinking and entrepreneurship spirit among students and hence, this idea resonates with our core values. It further advocates government's focus on developing smart cities and gives bright minds a platform to nurture their ideas under the finest academic and industry networks and resources," said Priyank Narayan, Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship, Ashoka University.

Following the success of last year, the five-month long programme will also focus on startups in the areas of education, healthcare, transport and logistics, and infrastructure.

Apart from calling out entries for this year, the event showcased the finalists from last year who have been able to scale-up with funding and mentoring provided with the help of AIM programme. In addition to this, six startups from Ashoka University's Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) programme were also showcased at the event.

"Startups that have a focus on building Smart Cities will play an important role to digitally transform India. We look forward to continue working with AIM Smart City Accelerator and empower startups working on smart cities solutions," added Naveen Asrani, Director, Microsoft India.

Applications for this programme will be shortlisted by 12 April, 2016 on the basis of financial viability, technology feasibility, desirability to target audience, sustainability of the solution and track record of the team.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)